#Mary&Jesus

Advent 4 – December 22, 2024

1776

I have been listening to the late David McCullough’s recording of his fine book 1776. It’s a short, sweeping work of history. McCullough draws on many original sources—writings by the hero, General George Washington, and some of the wide range of men and women who knew him—and weaves them through the thrilling events of the Revolutionary War. It’s a good version of the often-told story the birth of our nation.

What a stunning contrast that is to today’s gospel story! Like most histories, 1776 recounts the words and deeds of great men, played out in the public sphere. Here, instead, we have the quiet encounter of two ordinary women in the privacy of a home somewhere in Judea two thousand years ago. Although Elizabeth was the wife of one of the high priests of the Temple in Jerusalem, she had no position or power on her own; indeed, she had long been living with the shame of barrenness. And her cousin Mary was nobody: a young woman from the village of Nazareth.

Yet God has chosen the two of them to begin the transformation of human history.

Blessed

God has blessed them each with a pregnancy that is miraculous, curious, totally against nature. Elizabeth was well past child-bearing years and Mary had not “known” a man. But their pregnancies were no accident, and their meeting was no coincidence. In the passage just before today’s Mary had said “yes” to the Angel Gabriel. She agreed to bring God’s son into the world. Then Gabriel told her that Elizabeth was pregnant and Mary rushed to share her own news.

Thank God for the Gospel of Luke! The whole Christmas story comes from the first chapters of Luke: the Annunciation to Mary, this episode, the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the Birth of Jesus. Only Luke records the words and deeds of the simple young woman Mary. Mary’s “yes” to Gabriel made her the first Christian saint. And her “yes” to the prayers of countless millions since then has made her the most beloved.

The Holy Spirit is the main actor both in Luke’s gospel and in his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles. Here, before Mary can speak more than a greeting, the Holy Spirit fills Elizabeth; she and the child John the Baptist in her womb recognize that Mary is carrying the Christ in her own. Elizabeth prophesies and she honors Mary in the immortal words: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”.

Commentator Judith Jones noted that Elizabeth’s expansive welcome, her praise and blessing celebrate a pregnancy that ordinarily would have brought shame to the unmarried young woman. (It could even have led to Mary’s being stoned as an adulteress.) “Instead,” Jones wrote, “Mary is blessed…she will be honored rather than shamed for bearing this child….She has also been blessed…because she has believed that God is able to do what God promises to do.”

Another commentator made the point that this blessing “only happened…because one of the women (Mary) went on a journey to see the other (Elizabeth).” That made me think again about the ruptures that Covid created in our lives and relationships. At home, we use amazing tools like Zoom and Facetime to keep in touch with relatives and friends who live far away. But nothing replaces the power of being present in person to witness the daily trials and triumphs of those whom we love.

“When two or three are gathered together…”

Being Present

Let me share an example. Last weekend my beloved Claudia and I returned together for the first time in five years to Minneapolis, to be with one of our dearest friends, The Rev. Dr. Alika Galloway.

Pastor Alika and her husband Ralph were called years ago to lead the only African-American Presbyterian church in Minnesota, Liberty Community Church, on the Northside of Minneapolis.

Pastor Alika and I became friends eleven years ago when our churches entered a partnership. We wanted to be “the Church” by reaching out across the enormous cultural, physical, and psychological boundaries that divide the people of redlined Black North Minneapolis from the White residents living South.

She and I became very close, as she and Claudia soon did. My admiration, affection, and gratitude for her is boundless. Called by and grounded in the Spirit, Pastor Alika has created transformative social justice ministries. One of them is the Twenty-First Century Academy, a year-round after school program for at risk K-12 students. Claudia led a workshop with the teachers a few years back and was awed by the program.

Thanks to it the children have succeeded in the face of odds that few of us can imagine. They graduate from high school. Some go on to complete college and graduate studies. Many come back from college and jobs to help and encourage the younger ones. They mature as students and as servants in their community.

Claudia and I were heartbroken to learn that since the November election there has been a rise in racist speech and actions in Minneapolis and around the country. It has frightened the Twenty-First Century Academy children and teachers and deeply disturbed their Pastors. That spurred us to make the journey, just to be present with our friend. Pastor Alika asked Claudia to meet with the teachers again, nominally to share insights from her most recent books. Warmly remembered by them, she was even more warmly welcomed. Their reunion in person opened the space for the balm of the Holy Spirit’s healing. It helped them remember their own gifts working together, supporting one another as a faithful body in the holy work they share.

In that simple gathering, fears were dispelled, spirits strengthened, hope renewed; all were honored, all were richly blessed.

#Mary&JesusThe collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent invites us to prepare a mansion in ourselves to receive the Christ Child at his coming. With respect, Christ is already here. Last Sunday in the pews at Liberty Church, Claudia and were blessed to behold around us many mansions where Christ has long dwelt in splendor.

Of course, those mansions abound here, too, if we will open the eyes and ears of our hearts to perceive them.

So, as we move through the Christmas season, and face the challenges of the new year, let us seek them out everywhere.

Let me close with the wise words of Dorothy Day, the Catholic social justice writer:

Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts.
But now it is with the voice of our contemporaries that Christ speaks, with the
eyes of store clerks, factory workers, and children that Christ gazes; with the
hands of office workers, slum dwellers, and suburban housewives that Christ
gives.  It is with the feet of soldiers and tramps that Christ walks, and with the
heart of anyone in need that Christ longs for shelter.